Crystal Squadron
by Raekal
Summary: When an elitely trained force of young men and women go into battle against the Yuuzhang Vong, it's all or nothing. (sorry about the 1st chapter do-over, uploading problems. Please R&R)
1. Default Chapter

Small wisps of white, pure clouds hung low over the brilliantly blue sky of Naboo. A small breeze stirred the tree-tops, making a soft rustling over Raek's head. He looked around the forest expectantly, a small-yet large in his hands-blaster was clutched next to his chest, and he was dressed in soft green clothes with small blinking lights spaced around it. On instinct, he spun right, dropping into a crouch. Another small figure, one looking like it belonged to a ten-year old, moved into the light, wearing a light blue. He spotted Raek a moment too late and fell backwards as Raek's shot took him full in the chest. Raek adjusted his aim slightly to another emerging figure, and dropped him before he could even raise his gun to bear. Then he was moving, running lightly through the trees, alone in a world of enemies, it seemed. He shot another that appeared before him without slowing. Although it was only a glancing shot, it was enough, it appeared, and the boy flopped back onto his side.  
Raek moved deftly, quickly, and silently, the only sound the sound of his soft footfalls on the earthen floor beneath him. He slowed after a few minutes, and began to stalk through the trees until he could see IT.  
IT was a large building, old-fashioned, made of wood, with sentries on all four corners and undoubtedly some snipers some where. Raek holstered his own pistol and pulled the sniper rifle off of his back and lay under some small bushes. Poking the muzzle just barely out, he sighted in and fired once . . . twice . . . three . . . and four times. Three of the four sentries were down and one sniper up on the balcony. Then a blue clad ran out from the trees maybe four feet from him. Raek swiveled as the boy began yelling "Sniper in our midst!" and brought him down with a single shot.  
The front door opened, and Raek sighted in on the man standing there, looking dumbfounded at the sentries down around him. A single quick shot put him out of action. His com bleeped once, and then from the trees around him came seven of teammates. They all gave him a big grin. "Door's open now," Raek said.  
"Awesome," Juls, one of the only girls on the team, noted. "You do good work, Raek."  
"Cut the chatter . . . and no names!" reprimanded Sool, the team leader. "Crystal 4, you got a plan?"  
Raek looked around at him. "Yeah . . . I do."  
"Fill us in, Four."  
"Six, Seven, the other sentry is still up. You take him out, any others that might be up over there. Five, you're door watch. Pay attention to Six and Seven's signals, all right? No slip-ups like last time. The rest of us . . . we go in." Juls, who was three, nodded and pulled out her pistol again. "Good?" All nodded. "Good. Go."  
He rose and flipped his rifle on his back and whipped out his pistol as the team broke out into a run to the house. Six and Seven slipped away, their rifles up and searching. Raek ducked into the house and narrowly avoided being shot by an ambusher waiting just inside. He rolled, coming up with his pistol trained on the spot where he had been, but he was already down, having taken a shot from Sool and Juls combined. Raek nodded his thanks and gestured for One and Two to go right while he and Juls went left. They worked their way leapfrogging, and went to the other side of the house . . . and to the target.  
Juls picked up the papers and files while Raek glanced out the window. Six and Seven were pinned down outside by heavy fire from about ten foes. Raek gestured to Juls, who caught on and signaled One and Two on her com. They arrived moments later and they made their way all together to the back door, where, on the count of three, they spilled out, pouring fire at the assailers. Two went down, and as they turned to counter the new threat, Six rose up and plucked off two more, but seven was down. Raek fired without watching as he ran for the cover of a nice tree. And just as soon as the storm of fire began, it ended.  
He looked around the corner to see five more teammates, twelve through sixteen, slinging rifles over their shoulder and the rest of the team rising up to greet them. They slung Seven on a makeshift sling as One sent a message to all members "Target secure-return to base." The woods, which had been ringing with blaster fire, fell quiet as the Crystals disengaged. "They'll know what this means," One said. "Let's high-tail it home."  
  
Crystal Squadron was an elite crack squadron meant for any type of mission- stealth, infiltration, flying, ground insertion . . . anything. The members had been taken into it at age six and ever since all their life had been was war and how to kill. The growing members of this squadron would be cold- blooded and deadly efficient, as soon as they were sent into battle. Their days weren't their own . . . they belonged to the squad and to the "cause." The Naboo people hoped that they would be an adequate force to protect their planet from invasion by anyone-until the Yuuzhang Vong came along. They designed new fighters for the squad that were actually designed to be fighters. They built them with the best materials possible, and outfitted the planet with several large cannons and planetary shields. The Crystal Squad was trained how to fly their new craft and fly them well . . . and then the Galactic Alliance showed up and offered them a fleet as the Yuuzhang Vong drew nearer. Eagerly the people accepted, and the Crystal Squad, which had trained in mock battles and mock situations for so long, was finally harnessed for combat at the young age of fifteen. And the Yuuzhang Vong came.  
  
41/2 years later  
  
Raek sat up on his bunk, flexing his sore muscles and looking down the narrow aisle as others began waking up too. Juls swung off of the bunk above his, and for a moment Raek was again lost in her figure. It had really blossomed in the last year, and she had grown beautiful in his eyes. Puberty, he decided, sucked. He stood and moved into the showers. The entire squad had used to shower as one, until the girls became girls and boys became boys, and now they all had private stalls. He washed quickly and dryed and dressed in his regular fatigues. They ate breakfast out on the balcony overlooking Theed, and he allowed himself a moment to think about life without war . . . without killing and tactics and all this other stuff they were trained in so heavily.  
Juls sat next to him and watched him think for a moment. She was tall, lean and wiry, her figure, while not full yet, was already attractive, she had short brown/gold hair, and stunning blue eyes. Raek, the same age, was a little shorter, with close-cropped brown hair and vivid blue eyes. He was extremely lean and tough, but handsome. He just didn't show the muscle like Sool did. Sool was at least three times the size (and at least fours time louder) than Raek, and had dull grey eyes and dirty blond hair. Cain, Raek's best friend, sat on the other side of him and clapped him on the shoulder. He was a little shorter than Raek, but not by much, and had short red hair and green and gold eyes. He was the comic relief when there was no other.  
Raek smiled at them both and looked over the city again. "I don't suppose we'll see it again for a while after we go up, huh." Not a question, but almost a statement of truth. Once they did go up to join the GA fleet hanging above their planet, then might not come back. There was a very real chance that all of them could be killed.  
Cain smacked his shoulder again. "C'mon man, don't talk like that! 'Course we'll see it again!" He tore into his food then, and Raek looked over at Juls. She was staring at the city with an aloof detachedness.  
"That would be fine with me," she whispered. "We don't belong here anymore. We belong up there, fighting."  
Raek nodded, agreeing with her statement. It was true enough. They did belong wherever there was a fight, that was for sure. But is 15 old enough for a soldier? "We go up at noon, schedule says," he said softly, and Cain gave a whoop.  
  
Noontime came all too soon for Raek. But when he walked into the hangar in his black flight suit followed by his thirty-one teammates, he couldn't help but feel that destiny was being realized right then. He waved at Cain and gave Juls a thumbs up as they climbed the ladders into their fighters.  
Their fighters were called Star Points, or Points by the pilots, and consisted of a main fuselage like the Naboo fighters, terminating in a point, but then there were three engines instead of two, all three quite a bit larger, one under the cockpit (whence the name Star Point), and two on shorter wings off of the front of the craft. The two wings were angled up and back, also painted a jet black, and each engine had another shield generator, so that the Point had three overlapping shields for ultimate protection. The inertial compenstaor had been dialed up to GA regs. Since they shared everything they knew about fighting Yuuzhang Vong. The hyperdrive was in the main fuselage, and the ship was armed with proton torpedo launch tubes right under the nose, and six lasers that could be set on any variety fire. A stutter switch had been installed too. The Naboo engineers had missed nothing.  
Raek powered up the craft. It hummed to life and lifted off of the landing brace in which it rested and onto it's own repulsors. "This is Lead. All report in," came the call over the com.  
"Two."  
"Three." Juls sounded excited.  
"Four."  
"Five." Cain sounded as if he couldn't wait. Raek understood their feelings, now.  
After everyone had reported in, they took off in single file, in order and roared their way up to outer space. Raek felt remarkably safe with Juls before him and Cain right behind, and he knew that when they were together, nothing would be able to touch any of them.  
They arrived at Eagle Eye, a Naboo defense fleet ship and now their flagship. They were authorized to take any action against anyone, and no one was in command of them except for them. They docked without incident and got out and gathered around Lead. He looked around at them all, then, with a slight nod, said, "Let's hit the sims."  
* * * * 


	2. The whole shabang

Small wisps of white, pure clouds hung low over the brilliantly blue sky of Naboo. A small breeze stirred the tree-tops, making a soft rustling over Raek's head. He looked around the forest expectantly, a small-yet large in his hands-blaster was clutched next to his chest, and he was dressed in soft green clothes with small blinking lights spaced around it. On instinct, he spun right, dropping into a crouch. Another small figure, one looking like it belonged to a ten-year old, moved into the light, wearing a light blue. He spotted Raek a moment too late and fell backwards as Raek's shot took him full in the chest. Raek adjusted his aim slightly to another emerging figure, and dropped him before he could even raise his gun to bear. Then he was moving, running lightly through the trees, alone in a world of enemies, it seemed. He shot another that appeared before him without slowing. Although it was only a glancing shot, it was enough, it appeared, and the boy flopped back onto his side.  
Raek moved deftly, quickly, and silently, the only sound the sound of his soft footfalls on the earthen floor beneath him. He slowed after a few minutes, and began to stalk through the trees until he could see IT.  
IT was a large building, old-fashioned, made of wood, with sentries on all four corners and undoubtedly some snipers some where. Raek holstered his own pistol and pulled the sniper rifle off of his back and lay under some small bushes. Poking the muzzle just barely out, he sighted in and fired once . . . twice . . . three . . . and four times. Three of the four sentries were down and one sniper up on the balcony. Then a blue clad ran out from the trees maybe four feet from him. Raek swiveled as the boy began yelling "Sniper in our midst!" and brought him down with a single shot.  
The front door opened, and Raek sighted in on the man standing there, looking dumbfounded at the sentries down around him. A single quick shot put him out of action. His com bleeped once, and then from the trees around him came seven of teammates. They all gave him a big grin. "Door's open now," Raek said.  
"Awesome," Juls, one of the only girls on the team, noted. "You do good work, Raek."  
"Cut the chatter . . . and no names!" reprimanded Sool, the team leader. "Crystal 4, you got a plan?"  
Raek looked around at him. "Yeah . . . I do."  
"Fill us in, Four."  
"Six, Seven, the other sentry is still up. You take him out, any others that might be up over there. Five, you're door watch. Pay attention to Six and Seven's signals, all right? No slip-ups like last time. The rest of us . . . we go in." Juls, who was three, nodded and pulled out her pistol again. "Good?" All nodded. "Good. Go."  
He rose and flipped his rifle on his back and whipped out his pistol as the team broke out into a run to the house. Six and Seven slipped away, their rifles up and searching. Raek ducked into the house and narrowly avoided being shot by an ambusher waiting just inside. He rolled, coming up with his pistol trained on the spot where he had been, but he was already down, having taken a shot from Sool and Juls combined. Raek nodded his thanks and gestured for One and Two to go right while he and Juls went left. They worked their way leapfrogging, and went to the other side of the house . . . and to the target.  
Juls picked up the papers and files while Raek glanced out the window. Six and Seven were pinned down outside by heavy fire from about ten foes. Raek gestured to Juls, who caught on and signaled One and Two on her com. They arrived moments later and they made their way all together to the back door, where, on the count of three, they spilled out, pouring fire at the assailers. Two went down, and as they turned to counter the new threat, Six rose up and plucked off two more, but seven was down. Raek fired without watching as he ran for the cover of a nice tree. And just as soon as the storm of fire began, it ended.  
He looked around the corner to see five more teammates, twelve through sixteen, slinging rifles over their shoulder and the rest of the team rising up to greet them. They slung Seven on a makeshift sling as One sent a message to all members "Target secure-return to base." The woods, which had been ringing with blaster fire, fell quiet as the Crystals disengaged. "They'll know what this means," One said. "Let's high-tail it home."  
  
Crystal Squadron was an elite crack squadron meant for any type of mission- stealth, infiltration, flying, ground insertion . . . anything. The members had been taken into it at age six and ever since all their life had been was war and how to kill. The growing members of this squadron would be cold- blooded and deadly efficient, as soon as they were sent into battle. Their days weren't their own . . . they belonged to the squad and to the "cause." The Naboo people hoped that they would be an adequate force to protect their planet from invasion by anyone-until the Yuuzhang Vong came along. They designed new fighters for the squad that were actually designed to be fighters. They built them with the best materials possible, and outfitted the planet with several large cannons and planetary shields. The Crystal Squad was trained how to fly their new craft and fly them well . . . and then the Galactic Alliance showed up and offered them a fleet as the Yuuzhang Vong drew nearer. Eagerly the people accepted, and the Crystal Squad, which had trained in mock battles and mock situations for so long, was finally harnessed for combat at the young age of fifteen. And the Yuuzhang Vong came.  
  
41/2 years later  
  
Raek sat up on his bunk, flexing his sore muscles and looking down the narrow aisle as others began waking up too. Juls swung off of the bunk above his, and for a moment Raek was again lost in her figure. It had really blossomed in the last year, and she had grown beautiful in his eyes. Puberty, he decided, sucked. He stood and moved into the showers. The entire squad had used to shower as one, until the girls became girls and boys became boys, and now they all had private stalls. He washed quickly and dried and dressed in his regular fatigues. They ate breakfast out on the balcony overlooking Theed, and he allowed himself a moment to think about life without war . . . without killing and tactics and all this other stuff they were trained in so heavily.  
Juls sat next to him and watched him think for a moment. She was tall, lean and wiry, her figure, while not full yet, was already attractive; she had short brown/gold hair, and stunning blue eyes. Raek, the same age, was a little shorter, with close-cropped brown hair and vivid blue eyes. He was extremely lean and tough, but handsome. He just didn't show the muscle like Sool did. Sool was at least three times the size (and at least fours time louder) than Raek, and had dull grey eyes and dirty blond hair. Cain, Raek's best friend, sat on the other side of him and clapped him on the shoulder. He was a little shorter than Raek, but not by much, and had short red hair and green and gold eyes. He was the comic relief when there was no other.  
Raek smiled at them both and looked over the city again. "I don't suppose we'll see it again for a while after we go up, huh." Not a question, but almost a statement of truth. Once they did go up to join the GA fleet hanging above their planet, then might not come back. There was a very real chance that all of them could be killed.  
Cain smacked his shoulder again. "C'mon man, don't talk like that! 'Course we'll see it again!" He tore into his food then, and Raek looked over at Juls. She was staring at the city with an aloof detachedness.  
"That would be fine with me," she whispered. "We don't belong here anymore. We belong up there, fighting."  
Raek nodded, agreeing with her statement. It was true enough. They did belong wherever there was a fight, that was for sure. But is 15 old enough for a soldier? "We go up at noon, schedule says," he said softly, and Cain gave a whoop.  
  
Noontime came all too soon for Raek. But when he walked into the hangar in his black flight suit followed by his thirty-one teammates, he couldn't help but feel that destiny was being realized right then. He waved at Cain and gave Juls a thumbs up as they climbed the ladders into their fighters.  
Their fighters were called Star Points, or Points by the pilots, and consisted of a main fuselage like the Naboo fighters, terminating in a point, but then there were three engines instead of two, all three quite a bit larger, one under the cockpit (whence the name Star Point), and two on shorter wings off of the front of the craft. The two wings were angled up and back, also painted a jet black, and each engine had another shield generator, so that the Point had three overlapping shields for ultimate protection. The inertial compensator had been dialed up to GA regs. Since they shared everything they knew about fighting Yuuzhang Vong. The hyper drive was in the main fuselage, and the ship was armed with proton torpedo launch tubes right under the nose, and six lasers that could be set on any variety fire. A stutter switch had been installed too. The Naboo engineers had missed nothing.  
Raek powered up the craft. It hummed to life and lifted off of the landing brace in which it rested and onto its own repulsors. "This is Lead. All report in," came the call over the com.  
"Two."  
"Three." Juls sounded excited.  
"Four."  
"Five." Cain sounded as if he couldn't wait. Raek understood their feelings, now.  
After everyone had reported in, they took off in single file, in order and roared their way up to outer space. Raek felt remarkably safe with Juls before him and Cain right behind, and he knew that when they were together, nothing would be able to touch any of them.  
They arrived at Eagle Eye, a Naboo defense fleet ship and now their flagship. They were authorized to take any action against anyone, and no one was in command of them except for them. They docked without incident and got out and gathered around Lead. He looked around at them all, then, with a slight nod, said, "Let's hit the sims."  
* * * * Raek brought his Point in a graceful sweep into position as the lead element of Two Flight, which consisted of him, Cain, Juls, and a precise, calculating man known as Torlong. He keyed his com. "Keep it tight, flight. Let's get our mission done and outa here."  
The other pilots of Crystal Squadron formed up in their small flights and all arrowed in on a small convoy hanging before them against the backdrop of the Naboo star. Raek goosed his thrusters, bringing shields and weapons online. He did a quick radar sweep of the area around him, making sure no surprises awaited them. He smiled at the results. The convoy was on its own. With a grin, he chose the first ship in line as their target and passed on the info to his flight. They acknowledged, and the fight was on moments later.  
They bore down on the ship with all weapons blazing. While dovin bassals gobbled up most of the energy thrown their way, most wasn't all and some got through. Some that got through killed one of the gravity manipulators, and more punched through, leaving some burning vapors and a black, scorched hull behind it. The rest of the squadron was enjoying similar success. The lowly defended convoy was being massacred. Then, from hyperspace, two fighter carriers dropped into real space and almost instantly began disgorging their fighters.  
"We're too late . . . they met their rendezvous already," someone put in over the com.  
"We may be late but we can still ruin this for them. Engage the fighters and destroy them-then we can deal with these ships." Lead sounded cool and calm as the four or so dozen fighters swooped down on them.  
"Here we go, Two Flight," Raek said, as a splash of plasma barely nicked his front shields. He winced as he put the Point through a sharp series of evasive maneuvers, his fingers playing on the stutter and firing studs. Behind him a trail of Yorik coral debris floated. As he flew, the Vong gathered the ships and began massing for the jump into hyperspace.  
"Two Flight, Four Flight, stop them! They're abandoning their fighters to us." Lead's craft coolly obliterated another skip.  
Feeling resentful at being ordered out the dogfight, Raek soon learned the ships were task enough. Their first pass was met with heavy resistance from the ships, and almost nothing got through to cause damage. "Huddle up, flight. Let's make this tough on them." The three fighter in tight formation this time laid a trail of burning hull in their wake, and Raek swooped around one fighter carrier, unloading two torps into some vent looking extremity. The entire craft shuddered on its axis before imploding seconds later. The explosion bolstered his men, who went after their original target once more. Four Flight did in a convoy craft and crippled another before the rest of the squadron joined. The skips were no more, and not a single Point had been shot down. It was impressive.  
The remainders of the convoy were destroyed quickly, and the sims shut down. Raek clambered out of the hot interior with a grin on his face. Zero percent casualties. That just wasn't some everyday occurrence, this was something. This meant they were getting better more and more everyday. And that when the real thing happened, that the Vong would be in for a treat that they could never forget.  
* * * * Raek walked down the sleek, smooth corridors of Eagle Eye and into the dining hub with most of Crystal Squadron following along behind him. He grinned as some of the regular crew and pilots of the ship looked up in surprise. While they all knew about them, the sight of such young and rumored elite killers stunned most of them. Raek waved one of the serving droids over. "We're gonna need seats . . . a few more, anyway. And drinks. Thirty-two of them." The droid nodded and whirred away to fulfill the order while Crystal Squadron made itself comfortable throughout the small hub.  
Raek sat with Cain and Juls in one corner and when their drinks came, they sat sipping them in silence. "Lead says we still have ground ops practice tomorrow. We can't fall behind on one thing cause we're doing another." Cain sounded a little annoyed.  
"We have a live-fire exercise in our ships tomorrow also," Juls put in. "We have to become used to 'real gravity fluctuations.' Tractor beams, I suppose."  
Raek nodded. A busy day then. He often wondered just what Lead would think if the Vong showed up in the middle of a training session. He had a vision of him sending an ambassador to plead for "just another hour" so that they could finish the schedule. He sighed and took a deep drink as his thoughts drifted once more into the holo-vids they had seen of the battles. He remembered the way their ships moved, the utter lack of tactics, strategic prior deployment, and the sole-minded drive and lack of compassion for life, be it theirs or the enemy's. They had to be stopped before the human race was extinguished, that was for sure, but to fight a war of genocide, you had to hit the enemy more than you were being hit. The Vong had finally learned that lesson . . . they had paid a heavy price and were still paying more everyday for Coruscant. But yet it had fallen, and the Vong, while pushed to a stand-still, would be active again once more too much longer. He just knew it.  
As he finished his drink, alarms went ripping down the halls and lights began to flash. "We have an invader in sector 1142-4322!!" a man yelled, running by the door. Everyone was standing now in the café, looking for something, anything, to explain.  
"All pilots, to your craft!! All pilots, to your craft!! All gunners, to your stations!!" the loudspeaker blared instructions for a couple of minutes, then said sadly, "Yuuzhang Vong ships confirmed in sector 1142- 4322."  
"Crystal Squad!" Sool was shouting over the din. "Load up!! Let's move!"  
Raek and Cain ran together to their locker, hastily got into their flight-suits, and ran out into the hangar to join the rest that were gathering by Sool's craft. "All right everyone, this is the real thing. Combat for real, this time. You die here, you're dead. You don't come back. Let's do what we were trained to do, people."  
Raek jogged to his Point and climbed up the ladder into the cockpit, released the side hatch, which let the ladder drop away, and triggered the canopy closed as he ran through his pre-flight list. His repulsors came online, lifting him off of the landing bench, and all his engines were in the green. After they all reported in, Sool's voice came over the com. "We have clearance. Launch, form flights, and engage where you see the most necessity. Let's hope the GA pulls off a victory for us here."  
Points began firing off, so Raek goosed his own thrusters. Cain and Juls both appeared next to him, followed shortly by Torlong. "Let's burn some Vong, Two Flight." They joined a squadron of X-wings heading towards the Vong fleet. The capital ships were reorienting, bringing up weapons and shields, and forming an attack wedge that was aimed at the heart of the Vong fleet. The fleet itself became visible in a few seconds, huge dark shadows defying light and a lot of skips heading their way. "That fleet is huge!" Torlong gasped, but a chuckle met his comment. "This ain't nothing. You shoulda seen the one they hit Coruscant and Ithor with. Those fleets were big."  
"Cut the chatter!" their commander called out, and all conversation ceased. Raek gazed in wonder at the huge ships hanging before him. They were, in some weird sense of the word, strikingly beautiful. Then the skips came in, and all dissolved into a formless dogfight.  
Crystal Squadron's flights held together remarkably well, Two flight staying in formation, mowing fighter after fighter out of the sky, the combined power of twelve lasers too hard to overcome by the dovin bassals, and GA ships kept their tails relatively clear for them as the powerful fighters went after the skips like nothing else. Raek heard on more than one occasion the GA pilots admiring them with comments like, "By the Force, those kids can fly!"  
The capital ships met with thunderous explosions that just made space even more dangerous to fly through. Sheer waves of energy washed over both Vong and GA craft alike, and both took casualties. Then they did something, and the Vong lost all sense of coherency. Their movements were rough and sporadic, and left the skips excellent targets. Scores went down before the Vong could correct themselves, and only moments after they had, it happened again.  
"Okay, we got the brain's location," the squad commander Raek's flight was tailing told his pilots. "We're going after it. Two Flight, you with us? We're taking out their yammosk." Raek had heard of the maneuver before and heard it was generally very effective.  
"We're on your tail, One."  
The fighters ripped through a screen of skips and flew around a light attack corvette, which whipped around to follow them. Raek concentrated on flying without getting fried as two of the X-wings before him dissolved under heavy plasma barrages. His own shields practically sang with plasma ringing off of them. He rolled under another corvette and then most suddenly, he was into an area where there was only one ship and the GA fighters. Cain and Juls looked down at the ship with horror. "The yammosk," Cain mumbled, and Juls clicked her com. The six X-wings left went on an attack run and the whole fleet seemed to rebel. All the nearest ships began closing in on them, firing wildly so that the yammosk's ship took damage from that, too.  
"Two Flight . . . let's bring in the fire power, shall we?" Raek goosed his thruster, locking on, firing four lasers to a time, a constant cycle that ripped up the hull of the ship. "Torps away!" he and Juls said at the same time. Cain was an instant later, his Point pulling up to follow them. Torlong's joined Cain. The four pairs all hit and tore the ship from beginning to end. It shook, spilling fire and erupting as the frame itself came unglued.  
"Excellent work, Two Flight!" GA One said. Raek beamed as the ships around them stared forlornly at the dying yammosk, then began an uncoordinated retreat. Naboo was safe for another day.  
Raek looped his fighter around the surviving X-wings and pushed his throttle up to full, quickly outstripping the GA fighters and rejoining the rest of his squad quickly. Sool clicked the com for their attention. "Excellent job, guys. All of you have performed wonderfully. No casualties. Nice. But listen-we've just got word that a second fleet, waiting just out- system, just launched into hyperspace. They were aiming here. The remnants of the first are expected to rally around the second quickly. We're gonna have a second, larger fight on our hands. Everyone understand?"  
Double clicks all around confirmed it. The GA fighters were regrouping and reforming into a screen before the capital ships. Not one ship, even some of the crippled ones, backed out of the line. All held and waited. It wasn't ten minutes and then before them was a new Vong fleet. Their skips detached in swarms and came boiling at the GA like a swarm of angry insects. The com came alive as the fighters clashed head-on and the capital ships charged each other recklessly. Brilliant explosions filled the void as the two sides tore into each other relentlessly.  
Raek flew into it all, Two Flight behind him, flying in tight, close formation, their lasers chewing up skip after skip. They lost their GA squad and assumed after several fruitless attempts to raise their lead that they had been wiped out. The Naboo defense fleet engaged finally, after letting the GA fight the first one off. Their sleek ships added a touch of finesse to the combat, and many Yuuzhang Vong lost their lives battling the determined Naboo defense fighters. The fighters themselves were no match for skips, however, and their losses began to become noticeable. The remnants of the first fleet returned just as the scale was being turned, and it was right then when Raek knew that this fight was going to be lost.  
"Attention, all GA craft," the announcement came, "we are pulling out. Cut your losses and disengage now." There was a pause. "Sorry, Naboo. Look's like you can join the rest of the galaxy now."  
Raek felt a surge of rage as the GA ships began pulling out, leaving the Naboo defense fleet to fight as it would. And fight they did, like madmen, taking out three Vong for everyone one of them that went down. The Vong, sensing a coming victory, surged forward, over the small bubbles of resistance that were the only pieces of the Defense Fleet left. Crystal Squadron fought hard, pulling down Vong after Vong, flying in trio Flights, three flights to keep each other clear of enemy fighters, and still they hadn't lost a pilot. Sool, flying as hard as anyone, came over the com once more.  
"Listen up, squad . . . the GA's gone, we're alone. But our mission isn't over yet. We're supposed to hold the Vong back at any cost, and we have any means of doing that at our disposal. So they're going to want to go groundside next. Let's fight them every step of the way. Harass them, pick them off, make their mission to dangerous to pursue. Everyone got it?" Double clicks all around. "Good. Landing craft are tagged on your screens. Try to take a few of them out, would ya?"  
Raek looked at one of the yellow targets on his screen and spotted it making it's way towards the atmosphere already. "Lead, this is Four. They're progressed . . . landing in process."  
"Go! Let's take em down!" Thirty-two fighters dived after the landing craft, a swarm of skips coming after them.  
Raek zeroed in on the craft and fired two torps as others poured laser energy at it, overloading the dovin bassals. The torps hit and spun the craft in a full circle as they re-entered the atmosphere. Caught on an improper re-entry angle, the craft disintegrated. Another not far away buckled under the assault of Six Flight, and a third fell to Five Flight. But at least five more were well under way, and the skips had caught up.  
High in the atmosphere, Crystal Squadron truly fought for their lives, putting their fighters through difficult maneuvers until the pilots were exhausted and the count of their kills was rising above 500 all together. Raek shook his head to clear it and triggered another blast at the landing craft. Two strafing ships blew it the rest of the way. He felt a small surge of victory that couldn't last long. His ship was running low on fuel and energy stores, already onto its emergency stores. He pulled around in a tight arc to fire into the tail of a skip and watch happily as it bucked up and fire blew out of its view port and it tumbled away towards the ground. He grinned viciously as his ship beeped a warning.  
Then the unthinkable, the unthought-of action, the unforgivable sin happened. A Point blossomed in fire and buckled down the middle, fire splitting the cockpit apart. A lingering wail resided in all the squad mates' ears. Raek felt like his world had been turned over. Seven had always been the first to fall in combat simulations. Now she had been the first to fall in real combat too.  
"Crystal Squadron," Sool's voice came to them once more. "We've taken our first loss. Our kill ratio is high now . . . doing let it fall. I want you all to crash-land and group on my beacon. If you can, get all weapons out of your storage unit and hustle. We won't wait long."  
Raek rolled his fighter and blasted another skip down, pointing his nose towards the ground. Juls followed him. She had said nothing the entire engagement. She was a cool, calculating, cold soldier, deadly efficient. He smiled in her direction as he put all shields forward and felt the impact of plasma shot into his aft engines. Another sheared off his starboard wing and he went into a spin, the ground coming up awfully fast, then the world went black.  
  
When he awoke, he guessed he had been out for only seconds. He popped the canopy and crawled out to his storage unit on the side of the ship, keyed in the appropriate sequence, and retrieved his blaster pistol, sniper rifle, and charges. He dressed in his combat uniform rather than his flight suit and jogged to Juls' ship. She was finishing dressing and together, they made their way to Cain's revived him, and then made their way all together to Torlong's and had their second surprise. Torlong hadn't crash- landed . . . he had been shot down and was dead. Raek hung his head for a moment. Two Flight suffering their first loss wasn't good, not right now.  
They were among the first to arrive at Sool's ship and were among the best armed, having scavenged Torlong's equipment as well. Raek fingered the other blaster at his waist and frowned, his thoughts dwelling on Torlong for a moment. He vowed that Torlong would be revenged. That 100 Vong warriors would die in his memory.  
Just as the last member of the now thirty-man squad arrived, Sool addressed them. "We have to get to Theed . . . that's where the landing craft were concentrated. We took all the ones they had going down out, so they'll have to get some more, and I'm sure they'll do it quickly."  
They began to move immediately. It was a quiet trek, across the still countryside littered with debris from the massive fight above. Sool lead them confidently towards Theed. The Gungan army had moved recently too, they could tell. They moved through its path more than once. And then they moved through the slaughter-field. The entire army lay slaughtered around them. Only a few of the fallen were Vong. Raek vowed to kill the whole Vong race, then. They had to no right to invade someone's peaceful home and kill and kill until there was no one left to kill.  
  
They arrived at Theed and found it miraculously untouched. The Vong had tried a ground attack, but it had been repulsed by a small band of men with high-powered sniper rifles. They welcomed the surviving members of Crystal Squadron home with arms wide open, and gave them armed speeder bikes to combat the Vong with. They had set up their planetary shields and that had kept the Vong out except for the relatively large landing party that had snuck through, and their cannons made every orbit a tricky proposition. Anti-aircraft guns were in mass numbers on the walls around Theed, and tanks were being formed to attack the ground forces with. After sleeping, eating, and washing, Crystal Squadron formed with the small ground army Theed had and left the city to strike back at the Vong.  
Raek gunned the thrusters on his bike and looked over at Juls. She, running next to him, smiled warmly and swerved around a large rock in the middle of the open plain. There were two blaster cannons sitting under the body of the speeder that moved when the rider's head moved, and was triggered by a small firing stud on the steering grips. A small little shield to protect the rider from handgun fire and wind and such was projected up and over from the front. Raek's sniper rifle was slung across his back, both pistols on his waist, and plenty of extra energy charges slung on bandoliers around his chest.  
Behind them, about a klick back, was the rest of everyone. They had been sent forward as a forward scouting team. And they were about to find a little more than they could handle.  
As they approached the forest edge, Raek cut back and eventually came to a stop. Juls followed his lead and they stowed their bikes under some bushes and walked into the forest, visors down. Their visors were nifty gadgets, which allowed them to see any form of heat in a red outline while normal, everyday foliage they just saw. It was a good way to see people hiding behind things . . . especially unfriendly people. Raek pulled out his sniper rifle as they moved silently and stealthily across the ground until they picked up the sound of deep, guttural voices ahead speaking a foreign language. Moments later, outlines on the other side of a screen of foliage appeared. They crept forward and poked their head through and gasped.  
A huge camp laid spread before them. Over 400 Vong were present grouped around one of those landing craft ships. Raek felt a burning sensation of glee when he realized that that many of the Vong had died every time he had blown up one of their landing craft. He sighted in one of the Vong, but kept his finger well clear of the trigger. Juls laid a hand on his shoulder and sign-talked to him.  
"I don't think our force can take these Vong by surprise."  
"Me neither. But we can take them by surprise . . . lure them out to the force."  
"Us? Alone? Are you insane?"  
"Maybe." He gave her a big grin. "I'll ask command . . . see what Sool says. If we can lure them out to the tanks though, we can decimate this force thoroughly."  
"They've already wiped out the Gungans, Raek! These people know how to fight!"  
"So do we . . . and we can fight dirty when we wanna. Wouldn't you agree?"  
She nodded this time. He thought that maybe she was coming around, and together they crawled out and he radioed Sool from his bike. "Negative, Four. Don't put more Crystal lives in jeopardy. Wait until the rest of us get there. We can do more together than we can separately."  
"Lead, I know I can pull this off! We can defeat the Vong right here and now if you'd let me!"  
"Four, I said no, and I mean no. Now that's a direct order, understand? Stay put until the rest of the squad arrives or I'll have you court-martialed!"  
Raek cursed as he cut the line and jammed the com into his belt pouch. "I can't believe him! We have an opportunity to do something more now!" He slammed his fist against the side of his bike and then sat on it in frustration. Just as something whizzed out of the trees and bounced off of the seat next to him. "Visor down!" he barked to Juls sliding down the seat so that the bike was between him and the trees.  
"We can't fire back without authorization," Juls moaned, and Raek pulled his com back out.  
"Lead, this is Four. We are taking incoming hostile projectiles. Authorization to return fire is requested."  
"Four . . . negative."  
"What?" Raek looked at the com in utter disbelief as did Juls.  
"Pull out. Return to main column. I'll explain there."  
"Lead--"  
"Four, just follow orders!"  
"Yes sir." Raek again slammed down the com and swung himself up into the bike's seat as did Juls. He shifted the shields on the bike to cover his rear more and took off, full throttle.  
  
When they arrived, the column wasn't moving. One of the tanks had broken down and now the mechanics were swarming over it, working feverishly. Sool met them, hands on his hips. "I'm sorry, you guys . . . I hope you're both okay?"  
Raek nodded angrily. "Sir, we were in a position to do more damage than we could have even dreamed about earlier. Then, after you deny us the honor of going in first, when we have incoming fire, you say no, we can't return fire." He looked over at the tank. "Don't tell me that's why."  
"It's not, Raek. We just got word down from Theed. The planetary shields are failing under a bombardment." He pointed up at the sky, where, upon close inspection, Raek could tell that the sky was discolored in one area where heavy explosions must be hitting. The planetary cannons were firing nonstop, but he knew that they wouldn't be enough. "The ground force is being recalled to Theed. All ground forces are being called to Theed. The Naboo people are going to make their last stand in Theed. We're gonna have to make this fight on our own. I want the squad together for this."  
Understanding dawned on Raek. The Naboo people, the people they were sworn to protect, were also turning their backs on them. Betrayal upon betrayal. He cursed and sat heavily on the bike and hung his head in his hands for a moment before a plan began forming in his head. "Lead . . . what if we wipe out that group over there, and head back to Theed with the rest of the people? I think we can pull it off . . ."  
"You got a plan, Four?"  
"Yes I do."  
"Fill us in, Four."  
  
The line of slowly moving troops moved through the foliage quickly and silently, crouched low in the tall grass, rifles held up to visors across their eyes. They moved swiftly and stealthily. Raek motioned towards Lead as frames appeared in his visor. Others froze and adjusted slightly so that the rifles were all pointing at the heart of one of the frames. Raek picked up one of his charges and activated it with a press of the thumb. All the other members pulled out their own, and on a silent count of three, hucked them over the line and into the camp. There were a few shouts, then a rippling line of explosions that ripped through, and frames collapsed all around, and the line of humans opened fire. More frames fell in Raek's sight and he kept firing until the frames came at them. "Fall back!" Lead yelled, and the line moved backwards, still firing their white-hot lances of energy that pierced the Vonduum crab armor and left the Vong realing. Raek downed one with a shot to the face, then another with one to the chest. Juls, next to him, moved backwards, firing steadily, dropping Vong after Vong until the little rush had blown over.  
Sool made a sharp motion, and they dropped back quickly, moving swiftly, glancing over their shoulders as objects whirred over their heads and thunked into trees and bushes. Every time one of the frames became visible, one would stop, sight in on it, and down it with a single shot. They broke out of the tree line and ran for the cover of their bikes. Seconds later, a line of Vong broke out too. And stopped cold.  
The tanks were all lined up in a nice little row, all aiming right where the Vong stood. And then they fired. The entire line of Vong, around thirty, was gone. Completely destroyed by the wave of energy.  
Raek looked up over his bike and grinned as he saw the frames retreating then, moving the opposite direction. But only for a second. They came back, far too many to count, well over 200. Probably everything they had left was being thrown at the stubborn Naboo defenders.  
The tanks fired into the woods and kept up their fire on Sool's orders. Soldiers lined up behind them a ways and sighted at the back of the machines. Crystal Squadron, with their high-powered sniper rifles, blew holes in the Vong coming out of the woods, but they couldn't kill them all and one by one, the tanks were destroyed, and the Vong swarmed up the hill towards the men.  
"Fire!" Sool roared, and all the Naboo soldiers opened fire. The Vong dropped like flies, throwing more of those things into their ranks. And men began to fall. Raek winced as one as sharp as a razor went through a man's chest next to him, and another smashed a man's face next to that man. The Vong took the worst of it, though, and after about ten minutes, it was over. The Vong had been wiped out.  
Raek moved down through the field with Cain and Juls, checking all the dead, making sure they were all dead. They moved through the trees, counting all the bodies, making sure they were all dead and putting the horribly wounded out of their misery. They went to the camp, and down inside, where their original attack had occurred. Raek frowned as he noticed the sheer amount of dead inside the tree line. He hadn't realized they had been quite that effective. He kicked a body so it rolled over and wished he hadn't. The face was a gruesome blaster-hole that had melted the bones so that they had fused together in odd formations. Feeling quite sickened, he moved on, so they could find anything if there was anything of worth.  
An hour later, they returned to the rest of the squad were they were still retrieving the dead from the tanks and identifying all of the dead men. There were forty-six casualties all told, which was relatively good considering that the fight had been against over three hundred Vong warriors. They mounted up on their bikes while the Naboo soldiers all loaded into the backs of the cargo-haulers and started off. One Vong pocket was down . . . now to make sure the rest of Theed would be as well taken care of.  
  
They arrived at Theed and all shared a collective wince. The bombardment was wearing through the shields, and every once in a while, it would strike home, incinerating whatever it hit. Holes in the wall and city showed evidence of this. Sool looked at Raek sadly as they rode through and went to speak to the queen.  
They went right in. She was eager to hear from her predecessor's brainchild. The entire squadron marched right up to her thrown and Sool threw all pretense of formality right out the window. "Your majesty, to continue this pattern is madness!"  
"Whatever do you mean, Crystal One?" she asked.  
"One of those bombardment shells might hit the palace, and that would be an instant mission failure! We're here to keep you alive, Your Highness . . . not to give the people back their planet without a leader."  
"The palace has it's own shields as well, Crystal One. I appreciate your concern, but I think it would be more well-placed on the battlefield. Now, if you would so kindly go back to your battle--"  
"Your Majesty!" Sool interrupted. "We cannot hold the Vong back while we are here and they are there. As it is, we must let them come to us. And in doing so, Theed may be fairly destroyed before we can trash their forces. We may die before we fight again. Who knows what will happen? All we can do is our best and that includes getting you and the people to safety. The Gungans know about the Vong. They tried to fight them. They were wiped out. But their cities must still have some of the Gungans there . . . you can go to their cities and hide and wait until it's safe once more to come out. We shall send you word. Will you go?"  
The queen looked at him with something between despise and fear. "If it is for the good of the people, I shall."  
"Of course it is! Thank you, Your Highness. I shall arrange transports for all the people and send word ahead of your coming and explain the situation. Four, Five, Six, Eight, get on it, would you?" Raek nodded and ran to do so with the rest. The last he heard was Sool offering the queen boundless flattery, probably to make up for his abrupt attitude earlier.  
  
It was dawn the next day before the city was empty. The bombardment had ceased for a little bit. The sensors reported some sort of minor attack on the Vong fleet that had distracted them for the time being, for a few moments. Precious moments. The shields had been repaired by excellent technicians on the ground, and all was in a state of readiness and alert on the ground. Raek sat on the roof of the palace, watching the sky with a distracted interest. Bright colors bloomed somewhere up there where the Vong had began to try to punch through again. Juls climbed up next to him and stretched out on her back next to him.  
"Hey," she said softly, and then did something that blew Raek away. She found his hand with her own and gave it a tight squeeze. Raek looked over at her in mild surprise, but she just gave him a smile and held his hand all the tighter. "If we die in this fight, Raek . . . I just wanted you to know I kinda like ya." With that, she turned a brilliant shade of red and said nothing else. Raek lay there stunned. He could have dealt with Vong appearing out of the ground next to him better than he did this.  
"I . . . uh . . . Juls?" he asked. She looked over at him. Her blush had already faded. "I like you a lot, too." She smiled, and lay back and stared at the sky more, holding his hand tightly.  
  
The next day, the Vong still had not broken through due to determined engineers working round the clock on the ground. Raek and the rest were growing restless, and just when Raek was thinking of proposing they go back up in new ships, Sool told the squad they were going to do that very thing. There was a chorus of cheers. At last, they were going to go do something more against the Vong instead of sit and wait. Then Sool told them why.  
"I got a tight-beam transmission last night. The Naboo Defense Fleet is still alive. They were decimated and not many are left, but Eagle Eye and a couple of other big ships are still relatively untouched. They're going to attack the rear of the fleet while we attack the front. Hopefully, we can break their spirit."  
"Or reinforce it if they slaughter us," Raek put in. "We need the GA to come back."  
"We don't need them to fight a battle! We put how many out by ourselves? We can do this again!" Trey, Crystal 27, shot at Raek.  
"We can't find their yammosk . . .if we could, then we wouldn't need the GA. But we need their equipment." Raek looked around the group. "On our own, we can't hold off the Vong indefinitely. It's all going to come down to this fight. An all or nothing fight for the absolute control of Naboo. We can't afford to loose. We can't win by an attack on their fleet. They'll eat us up piecemeal."  
"It's better than waiting for them to come here and take us prisoner!" Trey said again. There was a murmur of agreement.  
"If we wait, yes, we'll loose this fight. We can't wait, and we can't attack all-out. So what can we do?"  
"Fight," Juls said, catching on to Raek's train of thought. Sool looked at her sideways.  
"Yes . . . we can fight. Let's go up there and just . . . fight. They'll come after us, speed up their own plans, and if we accelerate their plans too much, then a fleet, albeit a small one, arriving in their rear will mess things up more, and if we can, we can put a stop to it all together. It's our only chance. We can't win in a contest of head-on strength. That's how the Vong like to fight. Head-on, where everything you have is visible and there are no tricks, just the glory of war and the freedom of savagery. They don't value life . . . they have no compassion for anyone or anything. So the more we kill of them, the more they just want to quit. And that's the feeling we have to install in their hard drives. If we can kill without being killed, we'll touch some primal instincts for survival. Lead, I know we can do this. I know we can pull this off and save Naboo. Please, Lead. I know we can." Raek looked at all the squad around him. They all seemed to be thinking. "Come on. I know we can change this."  
"I see only one option here," Sool said, looking around at everyone. "We vote." He stood and raised his right arm. "All for Raek's plan, stick your hand up." Hands went up all around. "All for the original plan?" There were no votes. It was unanimous. "Well, Raek, we've trusted your ideas and plans before, and you've always lead us to victory. I only remember one time when you lead us wrong. Let's hope your record stays clean, eh? Crystal Squadron, load up. We have a war to win."  
  
The new Points were all fueled and ready to go when the pilots arrived in the hangar suited up. They had tight-beamed a transmission back to the fleet with the up-dated plan, and now were ready to roll. Raek keyed the ignition and closed the canopy and activated the com. "Four here. Good to go."  
After everyone checked in, Lead gave a triple click over his com, the "go" sign and Raek gunned his thrusters as the Points all shot off. The planetary shields went down as arranged, and the bombardment shells rained down on Theed for a few moments. Then the Points were out, and the shields were back up.  
"Lead, they know we're here." Twenty-four sounded nervous. "Skips incoming."  
"Four, I'm passing Lead to you for this mission. Give us our orders."  
Raek felt a huge swell of pride and smiled broadly at the stars in front of him. "Thanks, One. Kay . . . engage the skips, but stay out of range of the capital ships. Just fight the skips right now."  
The Points turned and met the skips in a hail of plasma and laser- fire. As the scene dissolved into a huge dogfight, the Points split into pairs and fought as hard as they ever had before. Following Juls through a tight arc that lead to the death of at least four skips by the end of the firing melee, Raek looked down at his radar to check the location of the capital ships. They had recognized the ships by now, and knew that it would take more than skips to take the Points out. Two attack corvettes were coming their way. "Six Flight," he said quickly, "take the corvettes out." One was listing badly, already damaged from the prior engagement.  
"Roger, Lead." Six Flight peeled out of the dogfight and seconds later, one of the corvettes was no more and the other under attack. Raek smiled at the efficiency of his squadron. He triggered a blast that kicked a skip up into Juls' lasers that chewed it apart. Another soaring by turned into a vaporous cloud as Raek fired again. Six Flight returned about five minutes later, the second corvette gone from Raek's scopes. He clicked his com in gratitude to them and rolled and dived shortly as two skips came up on his tail. After a few smart maneuvers, the pair broke off and Raek fell on their tail and blew one, then the other in quick succession.  
After about an half an hour of combat, the skips were fairing very poorly. They had to keep pulling reinforcements out of the fleet, as was Raek's plan, and the few attack corvettes that had come their way had ended up space dust. The fleet inched their way towards the Crystals, but Raek kept a close eye on them, and inched the dogfight away every time. He had a good feeling about the fight so far. They had downed over 200 skips and were staring to approach 300, still without a casualty, and the Vong's ground invasion was completely stalled.  
"Kay, Crystals . . . we played by their rules long enough. Who wants to end this now?" Several clicks. "We're going to the heart of that fleet and blowing up everything we can to get there. I'll cue the fleet, and they'll join us there. Finish up these skips and wait for the signal, alright?"  
The Points flew on as usual as Raek keyed in a short transmission to the fleet and beamed it out. As the skips sent for more reinforcements and there was a short battle lull, Raek clicked the com three times, then three times more. Attack hard wedge. They formed in a V with him as point, so close their shields all overlapped one another's, making an invincible wall. They were all firing and they split the skips coming at them, and at full throttle, raced into the Vong fleet. Disaster struck then as the first cruiser fired a volley that washed over their left V and two Points disintegrated under the barrage. Raek plunged onwards regardless, firing constantly, watching as skip after skip came up before him and fell away.  
Another Point took a hit and spun sideways into the side of a cruiser. It punched through the hull, lasers still firing, ripping the side of the cruiser open even more and then the drive overheated and blew in a flash of white light that ripped the cruiser's side wide open. Wincing at the sudden casualties, Raek lead the squadron in deeper, still firing, his fighter spiraling through the Vong formations. Then the Naboo fleet arrived and punched right into the Vong.  
"Die, scarheads!!" the com rang as Eagle Eye plunged into their midst, spewing turbolaser energy from every gun, firing as hard as it possibly could, ripping up Vong vessels and leaving them for more Naboo cruisers sailing into the Vong, firing full-bore.  
The Vong reacted quickly, turning on the fleet with fury, ripping one cruiser from bow to stern and leaving it dead in space. Raek lead the assault from the rear now, ripping up the Vong fleet from the inside out. Whoops came over the com as they suddenly entered an empty bubble with one ship hanging in it. "The yammosk!" Juls cried.  
"Crystal Squadron, attack!" Raek ordered, and the squadron dived on the ship, pouring fire into it until it came out the other side. The ship disintegrated quickly, and the Vong fleet fell apart, and the Naboo fleet ripped them up one side and down the other.  
Raek grinned as the last of the Vong ships vanished into hyperspace. They had truly withdrawn, finally. The severely crippled Naboo defense fleet limped together with Crystal Squadron. There was a moment where space was quiet, the com was silent, all was quiet and calm for only a moment. Then someone from Crystal Squadron said something that would stick in Raek's heart for the rest of his life. "We won . . . by ourselves."  
The com seemed to explode with cheers then, a symphony that echoed in all the pilot's ears. Raek whooped himself and put his Point through a victory loop before joining with the Eagle Eye to refuel and rest. He docked and popped the canopy with the rest of the squad. Cheers met his ears as the crew swarmed the landing pad and the pilots themselves in a huge celebration. They lifted Raek and Sool up on their shoulders and paraded them up to the command deck. Communications had been opened again and they radioed the Gungan city and got a hold of the queen quite easily.  
"Your Highness," Sool and Raek said together, dipping their heads in the holo-vid transmission. "Naboo is safe."  
"You've won?" she asked, grinning. Raek nodded. "Excellent! You will both be given awards fitting of your accomplishment and--"  
"Excuse me, Your Highness," Raek interrupted. "But the whole squadron deserves those rewards. Not just some of us. We all fought together. We all mourn together." Thoughts of the fallen floated into his mind and he fought the sudden pain down. "We celebrate together."  
"It will be as you say then," the queen said. "I look forward to speaking with you on the ground once more." She smiled as the image faded, and the deck erupted in cheers again. The war against the Vong was over, and the small, outnumbered, and outgunned force had won. Crystal Squadron had won. 


End file.
